Welcome to a tasca, the last survivor of the Portuguese meeting points. A tasca is more than a café or a club, and here you’re surrounded by memorabilia of my beloved Football Club “Os Belenenses” (aka The Blues from Restelo!). And what brings you here? The answer is simple: a steak with a horseback egg. Could this be any more Lisboan? I don’t think so. Well, some would claim that liver with boiled potatoes… or sardines… or even the “à Brás style” codfish. But honestly, I think this is the true Lisboan comfort dish.

The Bitoque is an institution. It’s the basic dish in every restaurant’s menu, from the greasy spoon kind of place where construction workers and taxi driver’s elbow fight for personal space to the more upscale and fancy spot where the steak is already tenderloin.

To keep it simple, the Bitoque is a steak with a horseback fried egg swimming in a sea of fried garlic, usually with french fries, rice and a tiny salad – in fact, it could just be a slice of tomato as decoration. Prices vary from 5 to 10€ — paying more than this would be blasphemy, as it’s the meal of a good percentage of the Portuguese population.

Usually, a good old-fashioned greasy spoon with walls covered in tiles and football scarves would do it properly. At Jorge d’Amália you’ll have a great Bitoque, served with fries on the side and some bread to suck up all the gravy. Go on, try it!